AARP: Home Alone Revisited - Family Caregivers Providing Complex Care

Home Alone Revisited 530 400

A new report, Home Alone Revisited - Family Caregivers Providing Complex Care has been released by the AARP Public Policy Institute and founding members of the Home Alone Alliance, with support from JAHF.

Surveying over 2,000 family caregivers, the report takes an in-depth look at the specific medical/nursing tasks that they perform.

The study shows that half of the nation’s 40 million family caregivers are undertaking complicated medical/nursing tasks for their family members and friends, including giving injections, preparing special diets, managing tube feedings, and handling medical equipment.

These caregivers spend twice as many hours a week providing care as those who don’t perform these tasks, and 7 out of 10 report practical and emotional strain.

The report examines multicultural, gender, and generational experiences, finding for example, that multicultural family caregivers are more likely to experience strain and worry about making a mistake, regardless of their income.

With funding from JAHF to the AARP Foundation, The Home Alone Alliance founding members developed this report to provide better resources and support to the family members and friends caring for older adults. Resources have been developed such as instructional videos for family caregivers on special diets and managing continence, two complex tasks revealed by this study to be particularly challenging for caregivers.


To read this report, click here.
To learn more on the Home Alone Alliance, click here.
To learn more about JAHF's support of the AARP, click here.